Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Evaluating My Numbers

Last night I got myself three new pieces of gear so I will have to see what happens next week but for the last few weeks I have felt stuck with my DPS while making the switch from marksmen to survival. I know I can get more out of the gear I have but I am just not doing it.

I usually use the looking for raid as a training tool to try and get better. It is ideal for me to get comfortable with a new spec. I will test things there like using cooldowns at a different time or messing with my rotation some like pooling focus at certain points. Trust me, it might not always be ideal for DPS numbers but pooling can make target switching and downing a lot easier. Again, none of that is needed in the looking for raid but that doesn't mean I don't try to do the best I can do.

I've got my shiny new bow, 397 tier legs and a 397 chest too so no doubt my DPS will go up next week but that does not mean I have to start evaluating my numbers all over again. I still know what I was doing, I still know how it ended and I can still figure out what I was doing wrong.

That is one of the reasons I feel DPS is the most exciting role in the game. It is a never ending battle to do the best you can do and at the moment I know I can do better which means I have a lot of work ahead of me.

All the fights in the looking for raid I've seen a steady increase on each week since switching to survival even though I have not gotten a new piece of gear in three weeks but each of the three weeks I saw an increase. Only one boss did I see a decrease on in those three week and that was the 5th boss. Oddly enough, the DPS race boss is the only one I saw a loss on.

Madness is the one that seems to get me. I think when the new raid was released and the first time I had ever done it I was 44K. Each week that passed I got better, one week about a month ago while still marksmen I broke 60K for the first time. Since then I have not been able to do it again even though from everything I read survival is supposed to be leaps and bounds better on that fight. The last three weeks with the same gear as survival, which is better then when I did 60K as marksmen, I have done 56K, 56K and 56K respectively. Notice a pattern there?

Admittedly I can do much better but 2 of those 3 times 56K was enough to be top dog DPS wise by at least 8K. It might seem odd but I run a lot of characters through there and it does seem like 48K is where everyone tops out. There are usually 2 or 3 people above that, but never more. Only once did anyone beat me and that was a DK that did 67K but his damage done was 1/2 mine so that means he capped out and then just hung around so his 67K looked good.

Sometimes I have to wonder about people like that. Don't they realize that anyone with a brain knows they are not really as good as they are trying to pass themselves off as? Anyone can pull off some sick burst numbers if they know what to do. Saw a mage do 120K on that fight once in a wipe attempt. He blew everything, capped out, got himself killed and then bragged about how awesome he was. The group kicked him, I love when stuff like that happens.

It is kind of like an OS 3D run I did the other day. I had 28K and someone else had 41K and they asked me why my DPS was so low yet we had almost the same damage done. I said, because I killed the adds after the boss went down and you didn't. My DPS dropped because of it where yours stayed at your burn numbers when the boss went down.

That is one of the reasons that just looking at DPS numbers is not where it is at. You need to look at the bigger picture. So when I am saying I did 56K on the last three weeks I also mean that my damage done was nearly the same all three weeks. I at least attempt to look at the bigger picture. If I can push to 60K but do the same damage done, it does not mean I did 4K better, I did the same.

One mistake I always seem to make it with my rapid fire. I am so used to a 3 minute cooldown and readiness where I would use it often. With survival it is a 5 minute cooldown and that is killer. I can use it twice during the fight as survival as opposed to at least eight times in marksmen but always seem to only do it once. I seem to have it as part of my normal thing in marksmen but have not really gotten into using it as survival in the same way.

It is not because I forget but it is because of the time I feel it is best to use it does not fit well with the wanting to use it twice. I am considering blowing it at the start of the first platform which would allow it to be available for when I want to use it but I always feel like it is a waste there.

The question to ask there is this, is more DPS ever really a waste in a fight like that? Just because it is not needed doesn't mean I shouldn't use it. So I am blowing away something that was the easy part anyway.

Damage dealing is not like healing or tanking. Wasting a huge healing cooldown even if it is not needed because no one is injured because it will be back when you know you will need it later is useless, it won't hurt you, sure, but it is useless. Wasting a defensive cooldown when you are not taking any damage just because you know it will be available when you need it later is a waste just like the healer thing. But wasting a DPS cooldown is not really wasting, as long as it is there when you really do need it.

Laying a big heal on someone with 100% life = a waste.
Using a 50% damage reduction for 12 seconds when you know you are taking not damage for 12 seconds = a waste.
Using a damage dealing cooldown when it does not interfere with when you need it later = a huge plus.

There, I convinced myself, now I just need to remember to use the damn thing at the start of the fight, even if it is not required, it will still be a plus. The little things like that do make a difference. The thing is to remember them. Rapid fire just does not seem to have its place in my survival world at the moment. I need to force it into it.

My other issue with the fight is something I think most people over look. I have herbalism as a skill. Herbalism has lifeblood. Lifeblood gives you 480 haste every 2 minutes. It is off the global cooldown. It is something I should be using every single cooldown but never do.

It is nice to realize the errors you are making. It is another thing to correct them. I need to correct them.

There is one other thing I think I need to work on being I have switched to survival. Should I use the wait half a second thing or fire an arcane between lock and load free explosives.

The way I am currently doing it is this. Lock and load procs. If I am low on focus I wait half a second between explosives. If I am high on focus I fire an arcane between them. I never fire a cobra between them. While on paper this seems like a fine idea I can't help but feel there is something off with it. As if I am doing something wrong.

I've never been a fan of survival. I know many people swear by it and say it is fun or the best hunter spec but to each their own. I am a marksmen. That is what I am good at, that is what I like, I like that it feels like a challenge to do correctly.

I like survival because it is not like marksmen in one major way, you make one mistake in marks and you see it with your over all numbers but with survival you screw up left and right and while your numbers will reflect it the actual drop in damage done is miniscule when compared to screwing something up in marksmen.

I think I like marksmen because it feels like more of a challenge whereas survival seems more like the play for fun sort of spec. I am getting used to doing it but I am still not 100% comfortable with it. I won't be happy until I can beat my markmen numbers while in survival being survival is supposed to be the better spec.

With three new pieces I am sure I will not have 56K for the 4th week in a row, I should blow that away now but can I do it while using a second rapid fire and using my herbalism bonus? That is what is the most important change should be. That is all damage that is easily available to me. That is all damage that requires zero skill. That is all damage waiting for me to use it that I am not using it.

I can surely tie up rotation up better. I can surely make better shot selections. I can surely pool focus when I know bloods are coming. There is a lot I can do to get better but none are as easy as making sure I use the skills available to me that I have not been using.

So when I evaluate my numbers I notice that the biggest problem with them is that I am not using all the tools in my toolbox so the fact I was doing okay means nothing. I was not doing all I could. Have to love DPS. No matter how you do, you can always do it better.

Survival is supposed to be the better spec yet I did more as marksmen. It goes to prove what I always say. You will always do better with what you are comfortable playing. The thing for me is, if survival is showing it is best, I'll just have to get comfortable with it. I might not be in a server first type of guild but that doesn't mean that I can not give 100% all the time. I play for fun, doing good is fun. I want to have fun. I want to do good. Survival is supposed to be better then marksmen yet I have still never beat my marksmen numbers. I will get there, no matter how long it takes. Maybe using my toolbox better might be the difference.